Join Pastor Jack Hibbs as he delves into the spiritual journey of Saul, the first king of Israel. In this episode, we explore how Saul’s disobedience and emotional struggles led him to seek answers from the occult, ultimately resulting in his tragic downfall. Through probing biblical insights, Pastor Jack reveals the dangers of turning away from God’s guidance and the invaluable lessons we can draw from Saul’s life that inspire faith and obedience.
Jesus also prophesied and said in the last days, just before he returns back to earth, there would be a plethora, there would be many, countless numbers of cults all around the world. And those cults, by the way, would have a theme. And that theme would denounce the deity of Christ and exalt their own leader or leaders as being a god or gods themselves.
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This is Real Life. Welcome to Real Life Radio with Pastor Jack Hibbs. I’m David Jay, thanking you for joining us today as we listen, learn, and are challenged by God’s Word, the Bible. Fear does not have to control your life, not when Christ is at the center of it. This month, we’re featuring a powerful and deeply personal book, Living Fearless in Christ, by Hediyeh Miramadi. Once a devout follower of Islam and a high-level attorney in Washington, Hedia had everything except peace until she encountered the living Jesus. Choosing to follow him cost her everything, her career, her status, and her place in the world she once knew. But what she gained was far greater, freedom, identity, and a fearless faith that cannot be shaken. Her story will challenge you, encourage you, and remind you of the power of the gospel to transform lives. Living fearless in Christ is more than a testimony. It’s a call to bold surrender. Available for the month of February for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com, where real stories point you to real truth and real life in Christ. on today’s edition of Real Life Radio. Pastor Jack continues now with his series called First Samuel and a message titled The Spiritual Realm. Samuel of the Old Testament was the last judge of Israel and the first of her prophets. So here in chapter 28, we’ll consider how there is a spiritual world beyond our visible realm. You see, as Christians, we’re to always look for spiritual answers from the Holy Spirit. But King Saul, in desperation, sought spiritual answers through mediums and occult practices. This reminds us that there is indeed an evil side of the spiritual realm. So today, Pastor Jack teaches us that there are forces that are real, and yet they don’t come from God. This is why the Lord encourages us to stay grounded in Scripture and resist the temptation to seek answers outside of God’s Word. Now, with his message called The Spiritual Realm, here’s pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs.
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The impending demise of King Saul, a tragic story. And a lot of people have opinions about King Saul. I have my opinion about King Saul. You have your opinion about King Saul. And you’ve got to remember something, that King Saul was a man that was appointed to the office of King of Israel by virtue of the fact that it was the will of who? the people they ask that is Israel asked that they might have a king like all the other nations and so by doing that graphically I present before you that collectively the children of Israel as it were got on a ladder I mean, it was almost equal to the Tower of Babel. When they got up to the top, Nimrod there pulls out his arrows and begins to launch his arrows into the sky at Babel, there in Babylon, to try to shoot God down out of heaven that he might be the ruler of the world. Nimrod. He insulted God, so to speak, in that attempt. And then what does the Bible say? The Bible says that God then there sent… confusion among the people there they began to speak other languages and from that point that is the cradle of civilization we just wound up invading it recently remember from that region of the world went out the languages of the world what’s interesting about that is linguistic and archaeological science and forensics in this area have done what they have not only traced all languages back to one tongue in the area of Iraq today, but also biologically, and this has been going on for quite a few years now, they trace through DNA, through hematology and archeological forensics and hematology, they have now traced back our original bloodline to a woman who lived somewhere in the area of the cradle, or what is known today as the cradle of civilization. Interesting, who might that woman be? I think she actually goes by the name of Eve. I mean, this is interesting, fantastic science today. But when we consider Saul, the children of Israel did an equal type of insult like Nimrod did of old. The children of Israel looked around at all of the other nation states around them. They didn’t have nations like we have nations today. They have what we would say nation states. They were tribes and tribal units of people, of descendants. And they usually went by tribal leader names or the lineage of such people. And so as… They were gathered around there as Israel was this nation and God wanting to rule it by a theocracy. God wanted to speak to his people and lead them and they were to be unique above all people of the earth. And the Bible says that God chose the Jewish people not because they’re brilliant, but they are. They’ve become brilliant, you know, they’re smart people. Not because they’re rich, but many of them are now. Not because they were mighty in power. No one tangles with the Israeli army or the Israeli air force anymore. But God says, I didn’t choose you for these attributes that you think you have. I chose you because you are the most stubborn, the most difficult, arrogant people to work with on the whole planet. And so God said, I chose you. That’s encouraging for us, isn’t it? If God can work with the Jewish people, he can work with us. And they are his chosen people, but not for any natural powers that they possess. But God says, quite frankly, because you’re so stubborn, I’ve chosen you to show my glory in. But what that nation did was they said, wait a minute, we want a king like all the other nations of the world. We don’t want an invisible God. We want somebody who we can look at, an icon, a figurehead, somebody who can ride around in a black donkey, black camel, you know, motorcade. Somebody that we can recognize as our leader. We don’t have to have faith. We just look at him and we’ll do fine. And he can go in and out and fight our battles for us. And so Samuel was beginning to scold the nation of Israel for that carnal approach. And God says, Samuel, just put a lid on it. Just be quiet. They haven’t rejected you. They’ve rejected me. They don’t want me. So I’ll give them a king. I’ll give them what they want. I’ll give them a man who’s tall in stature. Somebody they can’t miss in a crowd. a man who’s really, really good looking, because that’s important to them, because I’m invisible, I’ll give them something exactly opposite. They can focus their attention on him. That’s what they want. That’s what I’ll give them. Be careful what you ask of from God. The Bible says often, as it does in the Exodus, when the children of Israel had come out of Egypt, they were whining and crying and whining and crying. They wanted to have meat. They were sick and tired of manna. Remember? They said, this manna, we have it in the morning, we have it in the afternoon, we have it in the evening. We’re tired of this manna. And so they complained again. So God says, you want meat? You want meat? I’ll give you meat. And it says that an east wind began to blow and quail began to fly into the camps of Israel just at the height of a man’s chest. And a man could pick up a stick and began to beat the quail that were flying by. That’s quite low. And people were beginning to whack these quail as they were flying by. And it’s quite funny. It says every man was able to collect for himself a homer. Well, a homer, you see a homer? A homer’s a weight of measurement in the Old Testament, but they had bats and they’re hitting. A homer? Anyway. And the Bible says that they had so much meat that as they began to eat meat, that the meat began to come out of their nose, out of their nostrils. You ever choked on a burger or something and it comes out of your nose? God did that to the children of Israel, but it says he gave them the meat that they asked for, but he sent leanness into their soul. You know what that means? It means they became complacent about the things of God. They didn’t care. So now we see Israel in a place where the king has now lived the days of his life appointed by God. And we studied in depth last time how in chapter 28, Saul is in a panic. He’s been pursuing David, who is now God’s appointed king, yet to take the throne. And Saul now is at such a desperate place that God is no longer speaking to him. He mismanaged the throne. He would not listen to God. And years had gone by. God’s mercy, God’s grace, God’s patience. Saul would still not turn and listen to God. And then the Bible said that God took his spirit from Saul. removed himself from him. Isn’t it awesome to think tonight that perhaps none of us, I don’t know everyone in this room, but let’s just assume for a moment we’re all believers. We will never know by the grace of God what that’s like. To have God’s spirit taken away from you, we’ll never know. That’s what hell is all about, by the way, where his spirit has been removed from a man. The Bible says that God’s spirit removed himself from Saul, and Saul was on his own in the world. There’s no more horrible condition I can imagine than to be a leader like this man, a national leader, and to have no direction.
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You’re listening to Real Life with Pastor Jack Hibbs. To learn more about this ministry or to catch up on some previous episodes, go to jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com. And now, let’s get back to today’s message. Once again, here’s Pastor Jack.
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And Saul was on his own in the world. There’s no more horrible condition I can imagine than to be a leader like this man, a national leader, and to have no direction. He’s truly like a ship on the sea with no rudder. And we know by now, we know this man’s life, having spent so much time studying Saul, that he’s a man driven by his emotions. And when he had rejected God and God had rejected him and removed his spirit from him, remember the scripture says that an evil demonic spirit came and began to torment him. And he would be… Crying one moment to David, oh, David, I’m so sorry I treat you so bad. My dear son, I love you. And David would come back into the palace. And what would Saul do? Pick up a spear and try to kill him. And then cry, oh, I’m so sorry, David. I don’t know what got into me. He was insane. Driven by his emotions. And now we saw or now we see what we looked at last time. And that’s in chapter 28, verse 3. It says, Now Samuel had died, so the great… kingmaker Samuel the prophet is now dead. And as Israel lamented for him, they buried him. Verse 4, Then the Philistines gathered together and came and encamped. And as they were gathered there, they encamped at Gilboa. I’m going to skim down to get to the point tonight of what we need to discuss. And you look at verse 7, Then Saul said to his servants, Find me a woman who is a medium. Find somebody who is a spiritist, a soothsayer. Find somebody who is dabbling in witchcraft. Find me something like that. that I may go to her and inquire of her. I need answers. So the man who once knew God stooped to the level of consulting demons. So he goes to a channeler. And his servant said to him, In fact, there is a woman who is a medium and indoor. So Saul disguised himself, and he put on his other clothes, and he went, and the two men with him. And they came to the woman by night, and he said, Please conduct for me a seance. He’s going to call up the dead. He wants to inquire from the world beyond. Bring up for me one that I shall name to you. Then the woman, verse 9, said to him, Look, you know what the king has said. But Saul has done how he has cut off from the mediums and the spiritists from the land. Why then do you lay the snare before my feet to cause me to die? And Saul swore to her by the Lord, saying, As the Lord lives, no punishment shall befall you for this thing. Then the woman said, Whom shall I bring up for you? And he said, Now listen, everyone, watch this. Many people, you’ve called the church or you’ve gotten a hold of me and you’re asking these questions. And so tonight we’re just going to have a roundtable kind of fireside chat. Here’s where it begins. Your question is this. Who came up from the dead when this happened? That’s been your questions. You’ve also asked questions about, is demonic activity real? Well, follow along here. And would God allow, if it is even Samuel, to come back from the dead? Let’s look at this. Verse 11, then the woman said, whom shall I bring up for you? And he said, bring up Samuel for me. Everybody knew who Samuel was, including this witch. He was probably more famous than Saul because he was a man of God. Verse 12. When the woman saw… What does the Bible say? Samuel. What did she do? She cried out with a loud voice. Why? She freaked out. You want to know why she freaked out? It was not some familiar spirit that she was used to working with. She was used to either A, ripping people off for money… Or two, channeling demonic spirits to gather information about a person’s life, impress them, lead them astray, because Satan is involved in leading people astray. He loves it. That’s why the Bible says you shall not suffer a false prophet to live. Why? Is God mean? No, because if someone leads you astray, they lead your soul astray. That’s why God is so upset about the cults. And that’s why Jesus also prophesied and said in the last days, just before he returns back to earth, there would be a plethora, there would be many, countless numbers of cults all around the world. And those cults, by the way, would have a theme. And that theme would denounce the deity of Christ and exalt their own leader or leaders as being a god or gods themselves. What’s interesting about cults is that everybody gets to be a god except Jesus Christ. They exalt mankind and they tear down the deity of Christ. They all have that demonic link in their veins. So she says, who? He says, Samuel. She cries out, verse 12, when she sees him with a loud voice. And the woman spoke to Saul and saying, why have you deceived me? For you are Saul. What’s happening here? The truth is coming out. Not from a witch. What is God doing? Don’t make this mistake. And listen, let’s just talk tonight. I’m going to give you a chance to ask questions in a moment, but let’s just dialogue. We’re not going to go on to the next chapter next week. Until you get your questions answered here in this area. Because I am not going to have you turn on these cult programs to find out what they say. These loony, wacko, demonic, possessed, weird people who are so nice. You know, they’re so nice on TV. These things will come out in time. What’s happening is here, the demonic realm is not exposing the truth. God is intervening in the situation. He’s freaking out the witch. He’s got a message for Saul. And he’s going to do something that he doesn’t normally do. And that is, he’s going to allow the spirit of Samuel to speak. How do we know? Well, let’s keep reading. Let the Bible speak and teach us from its own pages. Verse 13, and the king said to her, do not be afraid. What did you see? And the woman said to Saul, I saw a spirit. Technically, she used the word Elohim not to panic. She’s not saying I saw God. She’s saying I have seen a supernatural spirit. I have seen a being from heaven. the other world, ascending out of the earth. So he said to her, what is his form? And she said, an old man is coming up, and he is covered with a mantle. That was a mantle of authority, by the way. Samuel wore a mantle. He was a prophet. Right about then, Saul, being a good Jewish boy, is quite hairy, I’m sure, and the hair is standing straight up. He hears from her. The man is ascending. He’s old. He has a mantle. He’s a man of authority. He’s Samuel. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground and bowed down. Verse 15. Now, look what your Bible says. Samuel said to Saul. It doesn’t say… a spirit said to Saul, or the spirit said to Saul, lowercase s. It says Samuel. The Bible says Samuel said to Saul, why have you disturbed me by bringing me up? And Saul answered, I am deeply distressed, for the Philistines make war against me, and God has departed from me and does not answer me anymore, neither by the prophets nor by dreams. Therefore I have called upon you, that you may reveal to me what I should do. This is so vital. And you can take this verse 15 and have a tremendous Bible study. Because if somebody who’s professing and confessing to know God… If God’s not speaking to them, Christian, be careful to not speak to them either. I’m not saying be mean to them and rude. If someone is consulting God and God’s not saying, listen, church, if someone is consulting God and God’s not telling, maybe he doesn’t want to say anything. Maybe that person’s not listening just right. Maybe God’s teaching them patience. Maybe they’ve sinned and he’s not speaking to them, based upon Isaiah chapter 59. He’s not talking. It’s God’s prerogative not to speak or to speak. That’s his business. But when somebody says, God’s not talking to me. I don’t know what’s going on. You know what you can say? You can say, I’ll pray for you. But when they start to say, you know, I just can’t get an answer from the Lord. What do you think I should do? Do you think I should take that job or not? Listen, I’m telling you right now, I will not answer you when you come and ask me like that. And I’m encouraging you as a Christian, don’t answer your brother or sister. If God’s not answering them, don’t answer them. You’re not God. I’m not God. Let them seek the Lord. Let him speak to them. He’s able. The funny thing is, you say, well, Pastor, I rarely hear from God. I’m convinced God’s always speaking. We’re not always listening. That’s the big problem. Sometimes we just need to learn how to listen. Get still. Turn off the TV and turn off the radio and, you know, put the kids to bed. Pick an hour. Set your alarm if you have to. Get up at 2 a.m. Even if you do, I’ve done that before. It doesn’t matter. Set your alarm at 2 a.m. Get up. The phone will ring. You know what I’m saying? Isn’t that funny? Hi, we’re selling a new carpet cleaner. It’s a spiritual thing. But get alone with God. Talk to him. Seek him. If you’re not hearing God speak, please, Christian, don’t go run to some human and try to get a voice in your ear that way. That’s a dangerous thing to do. If God’s not talking, wait and ask him why. He does a horrible thing. No one’s talking to me. So here’s the deal. I’m going to use a witch who’s demonically possessed to get some godly information. The end does not justify the means. This guy’s so whacked out, it’s pathetic. He’s a mess. He says, what should I do at the end of verse 15? Then Samuel said, why then do you ask me? Seeing the Lord has departed from you and has become your enemy. And the Lord has done for himself as he spoke by me. For the Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, David. Because you did not obey, and here’s the judgment, verse 18. This is a warning to all of us. Because you did not obey the voice of the Lord, nor execute his fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore the Lord has done this thing to you this day. Moreover, the Lord will also deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines. And tomorrow you and your sons will be with me, The Lord will also deliver the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines. And then verse 20, Saul goes in to his already too late act of submission to God.
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pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio and his message called The Spiritual Realm. Thanks for spending some time with us today. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack’s series called First Samuel, a series that highlights the prophet Samuel, who was called by God during one of Israel’s darkest times to bring the people back to a heart of true worship. And we’ll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio. Are you looking for some solid biblical teaching that speaks to the world today? At jackhibbs.com, you have access to Pastor Jack’s entire library of sermons on demand, anytime, anywhere. Whether you’re commuting, you’re at the gym, or you need a moment of encouragement, you can dive right into some powerful verse-by-verse teachings that make God’s Word really come alive. From deep dives into scripture to practical messages on everyday issues, Pastor Jack’s teachings help you understand the Bible in a way that’s clear, it’s relevant, and it’s easy to apply. You’re going to find sermons that address today’s toughest questions with biblical insight and hope in the midst of life’s challenges. Now, whether you’re new to the faith or you’ve been around for a long time, these messages are designed to meet you right where you’re at and inspire you to grow deeper in your walk with God. so don’t miss out visit jackhibbs.com why don’t you start exploring the sermon library today you’re gonna like it that’s jackhibbs.com where powerful teaching is always just a click away
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Daniel Cohen here from Israel. If you love Pastor Jack Hibbs’ fearless approach to teaching God’s Word, you’ll love The Real Life Network. It’s built for warriors who want the truth, God’s truth. On The Daniel Cohen Show, we bring you stories the mainstream media downplays. It’s time to start getting your news from people you trust, and it’s totally free. Sign up now at reallifenetwork.com.
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Hey, thank you again so much for listening. And if you’d like to hear or see more of what we do here, you can always go to jackhibbs.com for all the latest on what’s going on with this ministry. And please, if you’re ever in the Southern California area, come see us at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills. We’d love to see you there in person. It has been so good to be with you today, and I pray you find yourself in the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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See you on the next episode. This program is made possible by the generous contributions of you, our listeners. Visit us at jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com. Until next time, Pastor Jack Hibbs and all of us here at Real Life Radio wish for you solid and steady growth in Christ and in His Word. We’ll see you next time here on Real Life Radio.
